Associations of self-reported vision impairment with depression symptoms among middle-aged and older Chinese

Vision impairment (VI) and depression are highly prevalent among adults. However, few nationally representative studies from China on the self-reported VI and its association with depression symptoms.

This study re-estimated the relationship between self-reported VI and depression symptoms.

In this analysis, 62,525 respondents from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2011-2018 were included. Based on self-reports, respondents with VI were allocated to distance VI (DVI), near VI (NVI), both distance and near VI (DNVI), or a blindness group. Multivariable pooled logistic regression models were used to evaluate the groups' odds ratios (ORs) for depression symptoms and self-reported VI.

Overall, 35.9% of the respondents were self-reported VI. DVI (OR: 1.51, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.28-1.79) and DNVI (OR: 1.51, 95% CI: 1.21-1.88) showed the highest ORs for depression symptoms, followed by NVI (OR: 1.31, 95% CI: 1.11-1.54). Depression symptoms were associated with a significantly increased risk of DVI (OR: 1.49, 95% CI: 1.26-1.76), DNVI (OR: 1.49, 95% CI: 1.20-1.86), and NVI (OR: 1.29, 95% CI: 1.10-1.52), respectively. However, these associations between self-reported blindness and depression symptoms were not significant. All models provided similar results by excluding respondents aged 45-59 years.

Self-reported DVI, NVI, and DNVI are associated with depression symptoms. A strong reverse association was found between depression and self-reported DVI, NVI, and DNVI, but not for blindness. Our findings emphasize the urgent need for depression screening for self-reported VI among Chinese adults.